This Life I Lead

This Life I Lead is a long-form photo essay following Shanon Fulcher as he navigates the ups and downs of life in Oakland California over three years. From the mundane moments that make up the fabric of everyday to Shanon's battle with drug addiction and his eventual incarceration, I provide a window into Shanon’s life in the rapidly changing streets of the Bay Area.

The last time I saw Shanon Fulcher, I spent 15 minutes with him in his cell at the Glenn Dyer detention facility in downtown Oakland, a few days before I left California. Shanon gleefully showed me around his one-room world. We chatted for a bit and then got straight to making images. As three guards stood outside the door, watching our every move, and "Back To The Future" blasted from a TV somewhere in the distance, Shanon moved around the tiny space--sitting, standing, and allowing me to make photos.

I first met Shanon 3 years before in front of the downtown Oakland city hall. Shanon became my confidante in a world where I had little to no experience. Shanon grew up in LA and was a member of the gang, The Bloods. He had been to prison several times before coming to Oakland, CA, where he had family and hope for a new future.

As my relationship with Shanon evolved, I decided--with his permission--to focus my project entirely on him. I documented his way through drug rehab programs, rekindling his relationship with his daughter, living with a mental illness and forging a path in the quickly gentrifying Bay Area where the wealth gap is comparable to that of a developing country.

Shanon Fulcher (Bam) in the public square in front of the city hall in downtown Oakland, California in September 2012.

Shanon watches his daughter daughter Moriahatiana, Moe, at the San Francisco Zoo on her 3rd birthday. After moving to Oakland, Shanon became a father. After three and a half months into his partner's pregnancy, Shanon and his partner split up. Shanon was only able to see his daughter rarely, at predetermined locations for a few hours at a time.

Shanon looks at the bear enclosure at the San Francisco zoo during his daughter's 3rd birthday celebrations.

Shanon and his daughter Moriahatiana, Moe, at the San Francisco Zoo on her 3rd birthday.

Shanon talks on the phone while staying at a friends apartment in downtown Oakland.

Shanon, center, in the streets of downtown Oakland, California.

Unable to maintain permanent housing, Shanon stays with various friends around Oakland where he often plays a parental role.

Shanon shows Jamesha's tattoo with his name while shopping in downtown Oakland.

Shanon prepares a meal in an apartment in downtown Oakland.

Shanon waits in line to pick up his welfare check at the welfare office in Oakland.

Shanon with his partner Jamesha at Jamesha's mother's house. After his relationship with his daughter mother dissipated, Shanon started a relationship with Jamesha.

Shanon walks Jamesha's son to the park in Oakland.

Shanon with friends in the streets of downtown Oakland.

Shanon left, with his partner Jamesha on the streets of Oakland with Jamesha.

Shanon choses between different salsas while shopping at Grocery Outlet, a Discount Groceries in Oakland.

Shanon irons a shirt in preparation for a job interview.

Shanon tries on a tie in preparation for a job interview in downtown Oakland.

Shanon yells at Jamesha, as she defiantly puts a cookie in her mouth on the streets of Oakland.

Shanon found work as a security guard at a magazine shop in downtown Oakland. Knowing the community well, he acted as a liaison between his friends on the street and the store staff.

Shanon, left, mimics shooting a gun in downtown Oakland.

A tender moment between Shanon and Jamesha at a drug rehab center where they check themselves in with the goal to get clean.

As part of his drug rehab program, Shanon starts going to church. This church, located in north of Oakland, caters specifically to those dealing with drug addiction.

Shanon walks down the street to buy snacks for staff members at the drug rehab center. Rules are strict and residents have limited access to the outside.

Shanon in the backyard of a drug rehab program.

Shanon works out in the backyard of a drug rehab program.

Shanon plays with Jamesha's son in the park in downtown Oakland.

Shanona and Jamesha during an argument at the rehab center.

Shanon screams in pain, as Jamesha slams him over the edge of a table during a fight at the rehab center. They break up after Shanon is asked to leave the center.

After the rehab program, Shanon goes back to staying with a friend in downtown Oakland. Soon after, Shanon's friend is evicted from the apartment.

Shanon gathers his personal belongings to try and return to the rehab program. After some back and forth with the staff, he moves back in.

Shanon gathers his personal belongings to try and return to the rehab program. After some back and forth with the staff, he moves back in.

A fish tank in Shanon's rehab center.

Back at the rehab center, Shanon becomes violent during a drug-induced mental breakdown. An ambulance is called and Shanon is taken to a mental health hospital.

After four days at the hospital, Shanon is released and becomes homeless, living on the streets of Oakland. Among various different places, he slept on a pile of discarded mattresses in the parking lot of a hotel.

Shanon in his cell at the Glen Dyer detention facility in downtown Oakland. After months of living on the street, and battling mental illness, he was arrested in March 2015.

A hand made calendar hangs on the wall of Shanon's cell at the Glen Dyer detention facility counting the days he is imprisoned.

Shanon looks at letters and photos sent from friends hung on the wall of his jail cell at the Glen Dyer detention facility in downtown Oakland.

Shanon's desk in his jail cell at the Glen Dyer detention facility in downtown Oakland. Shanon spends his time reading, writing and planning his future once he gets out.

Shanon sits for a portrait in his cell at the Glen Dyer detention facility in downtown Oakland.

Oakland Protest

My inspiration for creating this work came after various nights of observing the protest for myself and covering the protests for the San Francisco Chronicle. From the question of whose voices come through the loudest during the protest, to the role of looting and destroying local businesses, I eventually became part of the story myself after being hit in the head by a police officer with a baton, while on assignment, and spending the following week in bed with a minor concussion.

I tried to make images that were lyrical, confusing, and ghostly. I wanted to invoke a sense of the spirit of the protest, the slow moving nature of social change, while also providing a new way to see an event that is so ubiquitously documented that the role of the photojournalist in these situations come into question.

How We Move

Nearly 90 percent of future population growth will take place in cities of the global south, and with more than half the world's population living in cities, transportation is more important than ever. This series explores its role in three cities of the global south: Bogota, Colombia; Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Nairobi, Kenya. In each city, transportation takes on a unique form. From Bogota's innovative use of the BRT (bus rapid transit) system, which has since become a model for countries around the world, to Nairobi's informal and often dangerous Matatu mini bus system, to a highway in Sao Paulo that becomes a unique public space each week.

Tin Roofs

This series centers around one of Kenya's largest informal settlements or slums in Nairobi, called Mathare. Mathare's population is estimated at around 400,000. In Nairobi over 65% of the population live in slums with two million persons living on only five percent of the available land.

Tour Du Rwanda

“The Rwandan cycling team not only has become an athletic success story but now appears on the radar of the international development world, where any project achieving its goals—in this case turning young men and women, most of humble origins, into world-class athletes—becomes a matter of great interest.”